For many years, there has been a large demand for live lobsters at areas distant from where the lobsters are harvested. To satisfy this demand, lobsters have been packaged and shipped great distances, including shipment by air transport.
In the past, live lobsters were simply placed in large cartons, such as cardboard cartons lined with suitable insulation, for shipment. Ice, refrigerated gel packs or other cooling means were added to lower the temperature of the lobsters during shipment. Unfortunately, many of the lobsters were damaged or died during shipment in such containers due to injury resulting from the inevitable contact and smashing together caused by handling and shipment.
An attempt to overcome such problems resulted in the shipping container described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,260. This container for live lobsters is a carton large enough to accommodate a plurality of live lobsters with an intersecting array of partition walls introduced into the container to subdivide its interior into a plurality of compartments. Each compartment is configured to receive a single live lobster.